Bombay HC seeks Govt reply on PIL to restore railway fare concessions for senior citizens, others

The petitioner lawyer claimed that the Railway authority, which withdrew the concessions, was not above the Passenger Marketing Railway Board, which had initially conferred the said concessions.

A division bench of Justice Nitin W Sambre and Justice Abhay J Mantri was hearing a plea by advocate Sundeep Badana on January 3. Badana, who appeared in person, said that as per Administrative Order (AO) of March 19, 2020, except for four categories of divyang persons and eleven categories of patients, the facility of concession given to other passengers was withdrawn due to the Covid period.

He said the order was issued to serve a specific purpose to discourage passengers from nonessential travel when Covid-19 was at its peak and the same could not have been continued even after the pandemic period was over.

Badana also argued that the directions of the coordinate bench of the HC issued in his earlier PIL on December 14, 2022 do not appear to have been undertaken by the Railway authorities.

The HC bench led by Justice (now retired) Sunil B Shukre in December, 2022 had noted that the “purpose of issuing the AO during pandemic was over” and “in changed circumstances, it was necessary for the Railways to take a fresh decision in respect of continuation of the withdrawal of concessions or otherwise”.

The HC had said that the Railways was also at liberty to modify concessions which were prevalent before the pandemic. The HC had directed the Railways to take a fresh decision within three months and had allowed the petitioner to approach the HC again in case of a fresh cause of action arising in the matter. However, arguing that the said order was not complied with in the communication of January 24, 2023 by Railway authorities, Badana had moved HC.

The Railway authorities had earlier argued they had already granted 53 per cent subsidy on passenger services. Badana had claimed that the Railway Board had not considered the over Rs. 6000 crore amount it had earned through cancellation of tickets and could restore the earlier fare concessions.

After Deputy Solicitor General Nandesh S Deshpande for the central government sought two-weeks’ time to file an additional affidavit in reply to the PIL, the bench allowed the same and posted the matter for further hearing on January 17.